Flame resistant fabric



April 10, 1956 1.. Roeosm ,7

FLAME RESISTANT FABRIC Filed Sept. 20, 1951 I NVENT OR Z [om 1 22060.51

BY W .1. 4%

ATTORNEY United States FLAME RESISTANT FABRHJ Lionel Rogosin,Weehawlren, la. 5., assignor to Beaunit Mills, Incorporated, New York,N. 51., a corporation of New York Application September 2a, 1951, Seriale. 247,545

Claims. er. 66-494) This invention relates to novel flame resistantOrlon fabrics. More particularly, the invention relates to a novel Orlonbrushed fabric the flammability of which has been greatly reduced byincluding in the makeup of the fabric a substantial percentage of saranyarn so that the resulting mixture of saran and Orion yarns in thefinished fabric confers a relatively high degree of flame resistanceupon the finished fabric.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide anew and improved Orlon brushed fabric in which the flammability of thefabric has been greatly reduced by the feature of including in the yarna substantial percentage of a yarn of relatively low flammability, thepresence of which in combination with the Orlon yarn imparts asatisfactory degree of flame resistance to the finished fabric.

The manner in which this and other objects and features of the inventionare attained will appear more fully from the follow ng descriptionthereof, in which reference is made to typical and preferred proceduresin order to indicate more fully the nature of the invention, but withoutintending to limit the invention thereby.

Referring to the drawing there are shown four views of brushed fabricsillustrating embodiments of this invention.

Fig. l is a plan view of a brushed knitted fabric;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the brushed knitted fabric shown in Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a brushed woven fabric; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevation view of the brushed woven fabric shown inFig. 3.

Orlon brushed fabrics are already known to the art, and for certain usesare known to be very desirable. However, for certain other uses where itis necessary to provide fabrics which are relatively flame resistantsuch as for components of clothing, blankets, etc., for military andcivilian personnel where there may be substantia risk from fire hazards,the Orion brushed fabric is unsuitable since it is very highlyinflammable. However, since it is otherwise highly desirable for theseand other uses, considerable effort has been expended in an effort toconfer the necessary degree of flame resistance upon such fabrics. Whilea great deal of research has been carried out on the flameproofing offabrics in general, much of this work has taken the direction oftreating fabrics and/ or the yarns of which the fabrics are composedwith chemical agents which are designed to confer the desiredflameproofing properties thereon; for example, see A. C. S. MonographNo. 104 entitled Flameproofing Textile Fabrics by Robert W. Little,Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1947. Such procedures, whilesatisfactory in many cases, are frequently undesirable in that theyordinarily involve a considerable degree of add-on of one or morechemical reagents, and this generally alters the hand or other desirableproperties of the base fabric in such manner as to detract from itsusefulness.

According to the present invention, it has been discovered that if anOrlon brushed fabric is made up in 2,741,108 Patented Apr. 10, 1956 iceyarn. It is believed that the reason why saran is capable 5 of impartingflame resistance to this brushed fabric is because saran in burning,because of its composition,

gives off vapors which tend to extinguished not only its wn blaze butthat of adjacent inflammable yarns and fibers. Moreover, since thedesired flame resistance has been built in, so to speak, and does notinvolve the addition to the fabric of chemical flameproofing agentsaccording to flameproofing methods previously known per se in the art,the hand and other desirable characteristics of the finished fabric arenot adversely affected as is frequently the case when using chemicalflameprooflng agents.

In order to indicate still more fully the nature of the presentinvention the following example of typical procedure is set forth, itbeing understood that this description 7 is presentedby way ofillustration only and not as limiting the scope of the invention.

Example for the construction of the back'of the fabric.

A backing bur blocked onein and one outwas used,

for laying in yarn on the face of the fabric Without distorting the backin any manner.

Percent 20/1 K. P. 27.7 750 denier saran 40.8 ZOO-denier Orlon 31.5

No dyestufl was applied to the fabric, it being merely boiled off andrinsed. No finish or fire retardants of any kind were applied. Thefabric was dried on a vertical pipe drier. The fabric was in circularcondition and was then split, after which it was napped six times on anapping machine in conventional manner on a regular rayon setting, andthen tentered to 56". This produced a soft pile effect on the face yarnof the fabric.

The saran-Orlon brushed fabric that was produced in the manner describedabove possessed a soft hand and, more importantly, had acquired asubstantial flame resistance in comparison with an otherwise identicalOrlon brushed fabric containing no saran yarn.

It is to be understood that the novel brushed fabric prepared asdescribed above was made entirely by conventional methods usingconventional machines well known in the art.

While the invention has been described more particularly in conjunctionwith a novel saran-Orlon brushed fabric, it will be understood thatsaran yarn may be incorporated in other types of brushed fabrics whichnormally are highly inflammable with similar desirable results, oneinstance being a saran viscose rayon brushed fabric prepared exactly asdescribed above but with the substitution of viscose rayon yarn forOrlon yarn. The fabrics may be woven instead of knitted.

It will be appreciated that the saran yarn may be employed in the fabricin varying amounts relative to the Orlon or other relatively inflammableyarn withou departing from the spirit of the invention, depending uponthe degree of-fiame resistance desiredin-the-= finished fabric.

Although the chemical nature of Orion and Satan 7 yarns'is well known-tothoseskilledin'the art, 'it'rnay be" Weil :to-ppint out that =sararr isa copolymer of Vinylidene" V chloride and-vinyl chloride in Whichthetormer'predomi nates -sec -Fieser and" Fieser; Organic Chemistry; sec-0nd edition, 1950, page 951, Abernethy; Patent-No.

2,542,973 and J ones'Patent-No: 2,543' 027. Orlon yarn therefore -to"be-understood" that the example *cit'ed-and-'the'--' Vparticular-proportions and details-set forthabove/ arein tended to beillustrativeonly andare not intended'to lirnit the seopeoftheinvention.

Wliatisclaimedis:

1, A flame resistant brushed fabric comprising a back-- ing preparedfrom normally inflammable yarn, afacir'ig forsaidfabric: capable-ofreceiving anap, 'saidfacing- -be* ing constructedffrom at leasttwodiiferent yarns; at 'least' one of*which is higmy-infiammable in itsbrushed condition and the other of which comprises 'sarang saidsaran 2.A fabrie-as'claimed-in claim=l wherein-onecf' 'the yarns employed inconstructingthe facing; comprises Or-lon;-"-

3. A fabric as rayon? 4; A flame eresistant brushed wovenfabric-comprising abaeking prepared fiomnormally infiammable yarn; a

r claimed inclaim'l wherein-one ofth'e yarns employed in constructingthefacingcomprises facing for said fabric capable of receiving a nap,said facing-constructed frorrr'atleast- *twodifiercntyarns; at least oneof which is highly inflammable in its brushed condition and the other ofwhich comprises saran, said Saran being present in substantial amountsdetermined by the infiammability of the other yarn components com--prising said facing, but not:lessthan required to impart flameresistance. to saidfabric.

5. A fiame resistant'brushedknittedfabriccomprising aknit'cotton'backing having attached thereto a;facing;, capable ofreceiving a nap, said .facing being-constructed from a combination ofOrion and saran yarns-,zwith at least .oneuend 'of saranyarnbeingernployed per several ends ofsaid orlon yarn, with the number of ends ofV saran being no greater than requiredltovimpart a substantial degree offlame resistance to said fabric.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDT STATESV PATENTS;

599,438; Bell Feb;-,.22, .1898' 668;.793; Bradley: Feb; 26,- v1901:2,019,258: Holmes r.Oct; 29, 1935 2,156,455 Kleine .r May"2,t1939.:.2,239,457 Gibbons Apr." 22, 1941; 2,266,163l Francis: Dec. .16; 194125219206 7 Randall Apr. v7, 1942 a 2,312,089; Gobeill Feb;:23 :1943;-2,313,058; Francist Mar;19,.1943;" 2,353,090.- Shelmire et al July 4,19.44; 2354!,4352 Stedrnan -July 25, 1944 2,536,1635 Feild et a1. Jana'2, 1951. 2,539,301 Foster Jani 23; 1951: 2,5 85 ,212 r OTHERREFERENCES- Shnnamand'Sherman: TlieNeW Fibers, l946'(pp.

Johns; -D'ec: .1 8; 188 3'5.

Backer. Feb.-:12,; 1952

1. A FLAME RESISTANT BRUSHED FABRIC COMPRISING A BACKING PREPARED FROMNORMALLY INFLAMMABLE YARN, A FACING FOR SAID FABRIC CAPABLE OF RECEIVINGA NAP, SAID FACING BEING CONSTRUCTED FROM AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT YARNS,AT LEAST ONE OF WHICH IS HIGHLY INFLAMMABLE IN ITS BRUSHED CONDITION ANDTHE OTHER OF WHICH COMPRISES SARAN, SAID SARAN BEING PRESENT INSUBSTANTIAL AMOUNTS DETERMINED BY THE INFLAMMABILITY OF THE OTHER YARNCOMPONENTS COMPRISING SAID FACING, BUT NOT LESS THAN REQUIRED TO IMPARTFLAME RESISTANCE TO SAID FABRIC.